The Sound of the Waiting Sea
by LeonaWriter
Summary: Roxas and Axel finally get their trip to the beach, but it comes a price. Someone's missing, and there isn't much time left until Roxas has to leave and play his part, too. Part one of the After Mission Side Club AU. Although this is the first bit written, the story starts far earlier, similar to Days itself.


The waves crashed around him, and for the first time, he truly heard the sound of the sea as he was sure she'd heard it so many times before, from her seashells. Sand was getting everywhere - in his boots, his hair, the odd not-fabric of the Organisation coat he still wore, the rungs of the zipper... the air smelled salty, which reminded him of ice cream and the tower, but there was no sweetness to it.

She was gone.

He heard footsteps in the sand, and he didn't need to look up to know who it was. Axel sighed, leaning with a heavy thud against the tree he knew that Sora - his other, Xion's other - and Riku, and Kairi, the person important enough to Sora that Xion had taken her form... it was where they'd watched the sunset together.

"We promised each other we'd go to the beach, didn't we."

It was getting harder and harder to remember, but he made the effort. Just like he was sure Axel was trying his hardest to get her memorised, too.

"Yeah... yeah, we did. And in a way, all of us _are_ here. Just- just, not in the way we'd have hoped."

Roxas remembered that cheesy thing Axel had said, so very long ago, about how as long as you thought about people close to you, you weren't really far apart. You were inseparable. Did the same thing apply if that person was now a part of you, but you _couldn't _remember them?

He didn't know. He hoped so. But he just didn't know.

Knees still drawn up to his chest, he sighed.

First Xion had needed to go, with no choice left, and no more time. He'd understood, but it'd _hurt_, in a way that Nobodies weren't supposed to be able to feel, especially not even the kind of Nobodies they were, even with the smallest of hearts, ones that were still re-learning how to feel at all. Or in his case, learning for the first time.

A dark corridor appeared. At first, Roxas and Axel were both on guard, Roxas going so far as to move his head to turn to look at who it might be in case he needed to fight even on Destiny Islands, but it was only Riku.

"Namine said you've got maybe a couple more days," he said, not meeting either of their eyes. Then, he turned to Axel. "It's not safe for you here right now. If they don't think you're searching far enough, they'll turn on you. If you don't report back soon-" Riku stopped himself. Hesitated. Shook his head. "I can understand needing time, but you've got to realise none of us have much in the way of it either."

With that, he leaned against the far end of the same tree as Axel, not completely relaxed, but hardly as though he were in the presence of enemies. It was odd, how things worked out.

"...Hey, Roxas." Axel's voice was soft, quiet against the sea breeze, but he could still hear the words across the short distance. Far off, he could hear other islander kids messing around in the pool and climbing trees, paying absolutely no attention to the strange black-coated trio on the beach. "You sure about this?"

Had _she_ been sure? He didn't know. He didn't think so.

It was so _hard_ to remember any more. He buried his head further into his knees. Shook it from side to side. "No. And I'm not ready. I don't think I'd _ever_ be ready, even if we could watch another hundred sunsets just like this one. But if I don't..."

He let himself fall properly back onto the sand, knowing that his hair was going to need a good and proper wash out later, but not caring. It wasn't like it'd exist for much longer anyway. One arm shaded him from the sun, and he had a sudden, strong impression of deja-vu, 'remembering' countless times when a girl, Kairi, had woken him up to shade over his face and eyes when he'd fallen asleep in the sun.

Except, he knew now that those weren't _his_ memories. They were Sora's. And they had to back.

"I've got to do it, Axel. If I don't, he'll never wake up. Then why would she have- have done _that_ for?"

There was silence, for a long while. A pause in the world where all that could be heard was the sound of the waves crashing against the sands of the beach, bringing up seashells right into his reach. The cries of gulls. The leaves in the trees swishing and swaying in the wind. Someone, back in the distance and out of sight, screamed - not in fear, but in delight, from having fun. They were all sounds that would carry on, regardless of whether he continued to exist.

"I'll be there."

They both looked toward Riku, who'd stayed quiet ever since he'd reminded Axel of how little time they had together still. Sora's old friend seemed slightly ruffled at the attention, but continued on, to clarify himself.

"When Sora wakes up. I'd always wanted to be there for him, although recently with the darkness getting a hold of me the way it has been, I was sure... but that hasn't happened, not yet. And it won't just be him waking up, will it? So... I'll be there."

Roxas smiled, although what would have been one of his brightest was marred by the fact that the act was bittersweet. That he himself wouldn't be there, not fully himself, to see it acted out. But he did know how much it meant right here and now. Riku was nervous of what would happen in just a few days' time, that was easy to tell. His darkness made things worse.

But that he'd promised to be there-

"Thank you. Thank you, Riku. And you too, Axel - even if Sora doesn't know you're out there helping us, I will. And so will Riku."

He laughed, and sat up again, laughter brittle and slightly forced but honest enough as he tried to find the good in things.

"Hey," he said. "Maybe we can end up having sea-salt ice cream again, right, Axel? You could even show Sora the tower where the two of us used to have it!"

"Ha, maybe we might!"

Although something about what he'd just said seemed _wrong_ somehow, like he was forgetting something important, but for the life of him he couldn't think what.

"Knowing Sora, we'll probably end up dragging you up there too, Riku. Maybe even Kairi."

Riku smiled, and they watched the sun dip a little further below the sky, something that hadn't ever happened for long enough for it to become truly dark back when they'd had ice cream in Twilight Town, until even in their coats they began to feel the chill. Apart from Axel. Heat being his element, he was lucky in that respect, not feeling the cold.

It was just yet another reminder that they were running out of time. Slowly, Riku straightened up and opened a corridor to what could be assumed to be the old mansion just outside Twilight Town, where DiZ and Namine had been staying.

Time to head back, then.

"I'll see you around, Roxas," he heard Axel call, waving one hand lazily over at them as he, too, walked away, not quite ready to made his own exit just yet. "Don't you go forgetting that, you hear me?"

He'd remember. In what little of a heart a Nobody could grow to have, he made sure he'd remember. And maybe, just maybe, when Sora woke up, he'd be able to do enough remembering for both of them.

...

AN: There's a lot about the 'After Mission Side Trip Club' AU in my Tumblr, but the long and short of it is that for at least several years, more than half of the Nobodies have been making actual connections and friendships with ordinary humans on other worlds, if discretely. Meaning that what was revealed in Dream Drop Distance - that Nobodies can grow hearts - happened a lot faster, although compared to a normal heart theirs are still woefully under-developed. Roxas is still different, and has more heart than any of them. This AU details the differences in behaviour and trust that would bring.


End file.
